The Late Show is launching its own book club, and Stephen Colbert has already chosen its first read.
“We’ll be highlighting wonderful books that are worth your time… that you’re not putting into watching this show,” Colbert told viewers in a social media announcement for the club.
The club’s first book: Orbital, a 2023 sci-fi novel that won Samantha Harvey the 2024 Booker Prize. It’s a fitting pick for Colbert, who’s known to be a huge fan of the sci-fi and fantasy genres—frequently displaying what would seem to be an encyclopedic knowledge of their canons. (In 2023, Colbert’s Spartina Productions banner signed on to adapt the sci-fi book series The Chronicles of Amber for television.)
Orbital, Colbert says, is “a beautiful novel about six astronauts on the International Space Station going about their daily tasks and pondering the meaning of life. It won the Booker Prize, and it won the even more prestigious prize of being my first book club pick.” The novel, published stateside by indie press Grove Atlantic, was Harvey’s fifth.
Colbert’s fellow 11:35pm host Jimmy Fallon has dabbled in book clubs of his own. The Tonight Show has promoted various seasonal reads in the past, leading the show to launch its own Fallon Book Club. That effort has experimented with its process for selecting books. Once a book is selected, Fallon typically makes several on-air mentions and social media posts, ultimately inviting the author on his show for an interview.
It remains to be seen if Colbert’s book club will have a presence on The Late Show itself, but the host says future updates can be found on The Late Show’s Instagram page. He’s encouraging viewers to read along and post about it on Instagram using the hashtag #LateShowBookClub.
